New Delhi - Red Fort (Part 2)

Here are some buildings inside the Red Fort. We didn't explore them anymore. (Thanks to superzoom, hehe)

Lawn and buildings

Lawn and buildings

Brick building?

Domed building

Close up of domed building

Close up 

Another building

Square building

close up

Oh look! A squirrel!

Squirrel rooting around

New Delhi - Red Fort (Part 1)

The Red Fort is well, a fort built a long time ago. Inside the sprawling complex are little streets filled with small stores which leads into open grounds. Parts of the Red Fort are still used as uhm, forts, to house soldiers. But the palaces inside are open to the public.

It's made of red sandstone, I think, hence, the name.

 There's a really wide paved road going into the fort (so they can see enemies approaching)

Imposing Red Fort

The wall is really imposing, see how small the man (bottom right corner) is compared to it.

Wall and ramparts(?)

The wall surrounds the entire complex. Here are photos off to the side...

 Side of the walls, upon entering

Entrance facade

After passing through the shops, the first building you will see is the audience hall (I guess)

Inside Red Fort

It's an open air building with high ceilings...

Open air building with scalloped arches

Scalloped arches

Where we came from

Arch silhouette

This audience hall was supposedly the site of the Peacock Throne (which I think was stolen by invaders or disappeared through the mists of time)

Raised platform

Close up of details

Next in Part 2, buildings inside the Red Fort.

New Delhi - Mosque

We also visited one of the largest mosques in New Delhi. For your information, mosques are for muslims, temples are for the buddhist, hindus, and jewish?.

We were required to remove our shoes before entering the mosque and wear shawls so that our shoulders and arms were covered. Be warned. Hahaha.

The mosque...there were a lot of people and birds.

From the courtyard

See the gate again...and the birds...

Left: one of the gates into the mosque. Right: birds

Inside the mosque, it was really simple. But I think women aren't really allowed inside because we got strange looks from the people there.

Mosque entryway, prayer area

The tower on the left side can be climbed by the public. So of course, K and I did. I forgot how many steps it was, but it was a lot of spirally small steps in a dark dank tower...

Corner towers

But the view at the top was worth it...

View from the tower

New Delhi - Humayun's Tomb

Ok, I'm gonna be honest here. We visited a lot of tombs, mosques and forts. And, if I confuse them, please refer to when K makes her own blog post on our India trip for the names of the places we actually went to.

*shrugs*

This is the first garden tomb (with the most popular being the Taj Mahal). All these tombs are actually just within a single family...

Humayun's Tomb

Domed entry, stairs, carved screens

Details of the tomb

View towards the entrance. All tombs have north-south-east-west gates. They like symmetry.

View of gardens and one of the gates

Domed ceiling inside

Carved stone ceiling

New Delhi Museum

Since it was raining, we decided to take refuge in the Museum (hahaha, this was really in the itinerary ok).


There was a huge collection of rock and wood carvings...

Samples of carvings inside and outside the museum

Silk miniature paintings with incredible detail. No face or dress that are the same. (Click for actual size, I hope.)

Miniature painting

Relics

Close up of relics in golden display case

And a beautiful set of miniature chess!

Recreation of a typical living area

See that small table in the foreground? It looks like this up close!

Carved miniature chess set

New Delhi - India Gate and Parliament House

We arrived in New Delhi at around 11pm. So we gladly turned in for the night for a bright and early start the next day.

First stop was the India Gate! (as usual, google for information)

Fountain tower fronting the India Gate, with the interesting pathway. It's actually not accessible to the public.

Fountain and path before India Gate

Off to the side...

India Gate and fountain

India Gate!

India Gate from across the courtyard

There are words inscribed on the gate

top of India Gate

A walk away from the India gate (but we still drove there because it was raining) is the Parliament House.

As you can see it is surrounded by gates.

Parliament Gate

Some artsy-fartsy thing through the gate....

Parliament House through the gate

The parliament house.

New Delhi Parliament House

Coming up next, the museum!

India on my mind

K of BeyondTheseFourWalls wanted to spend her birthday at Agra, viewing the Taj Mahal. So, of course, I wanted to come along. So as early as late 2011, we've been planning THE trip and confirming with our friends who else wanted to come. Unfortunately, it ended up that only the two of us was completely free in terms of office leave come August 2012. So, my Mom and sister ended up coming with us.

We got our flight tickets as early as February 2012. Singapore Airlines, baby!!! Itinerary got revised several times. By May-July, K and I booked our hotels, trains, and foodwalk tours. We were excited!

We applied for our visa and got it (after K waited for about 2hours).

So of course, pictures coming up!!!

July 27, 2012 was the day I said goodbye

I would have rocked your world.

Just decide

Lying awake, staring at the ceiling and clutching your phone during the very early hours of the morning and after a late night is never a good sign. Ok, usually not a good sign.

Whatever it is that's bugging you, it's something that needs a decision from you.

Pursue it to the end, whether good or bad. Choose it because it might make you happy. Well, happier than you are now. Or, if it doesn't end well, at least, you know that you did something about it. That nothing more could have been done to save it. Grasp those last few moments when you convince yourself that that is what you want. If it ends well, then by God,  it ends well and you will be the happier for it.

Walk away. Just pick up and walk away. Decide that this is it and no amount of prayer and effort and hoping will change anything. That even if anything does change, it will be tainted and will in the long-run be something that disappoints you. How everything stands now isn't what you want. That it would be better to cut all ties now rather than go through the motions of planning for a future that will never be. A future that isn't looking as promising as it used to be.

Either way it's hard. The hope that everything will work out may paralyze you. If you do walk away, the regret may paralyze you. It will be harder to get out bed in the mornings. Inspiration will fail you. Food will be tasteless (oh, or food will be the only comfort).

Choosing to stay may bring disappointments and regret OR happiness. Real.

Walking away may bring regret. Mostly imaginary.

What you don't know won't hurt you. Bury your head under your pillow.

Choosing to stay means that another decision must be made later. So many other decisions.

Walking away leads to one or two. Move on and find another happiness or wallow in regret.

Just decide. End it now or give a few more months or years of your life for that glimpse of happiness beckoning despite all the confusion and darkness now.

Choose to go, escape if you have to. Run away. Choose not to go, not choosing anything means you're choosing not to go. Your choice.

Decide.

How love should be appreciated

Truths that I sometimes forget:

"The spark is a welcomed and celebrated first step — an emotional doorway drug — along the path of love, but it is not love itself. The spark is the emotional high. It’s the manic part of the plot, the shallow scenes of the movie that are fun and easy to write but not where the depth of the characters is explored."

"Love isn’t a moment. It’s a million moments back to back. Love is the totality of what is looked back on, it’s the reminiscences by those who have always held that one relationship in higher regard than any other, even among myriad opportunities. Love is not fleeting, not temporary, not able to be had with whomever and whenever."

Words from a beautiful essay I stumbled upon on Ervin Han's blog, ervination.com . Ok, so I didn't exactly stumble on it since I follow him on twitter because he's cute AND funny. :) He's graciously allowed me to repost the entry here.

Maybe if we all appreciated love like this, it might get a little bit easier. Because life is beautiful and it's even better with love. :)

Enjoy.

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Love at First Sight (The Spark)

(Essay reproduced. Author unknown.)

I don’t think “love at first sight” is a real thing because it beggars the understanding of what love truly is. I certainly understand the appeal of a meant-to-be fated romance, but that has not the depth that twenty or fifty years of loyal marriage contains. First-sighted love is shallow by comparison.

Maybe “spark at first sight” or “connection at first sight” is more accurate. But those phrases won’t catch on because they’re not romantic enough; they’re too factual and miss all the poetry of the feelings of the moment.

But isn’t that the point? Love isn’t a moment. It’s a million moments back to back. Love is the totality of what is looked back on, it’s the reminiscences by those who have always held that one relationship in higher regard than any other, even among myriad opportunities. Love is not fleeting, not temporary, not able to be had with whomever and whenever.

The spark is a welcomed and celebrated first step — an emotional doorway drug — along the path of love, but it is not love itself. The spark is the emotional high. It’s the manic part of the plot, the shallow scenes of the movie that are fun and easy to write but not where the depth of the characters is explored.

We can all recognize the universality of a story that highlights the spark, but we long to connect with the truth revealed in commitment’s depth. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is not a romance, but a tragedy — if for no other reason than that they never progress past manic emotionalism and into something more mature. The spark was all they had, and even that was quickly gone.

But compare that with the excellent prelude of the computer animated film Up. The spark between the couple sets the buoyant tone and we get the sense that great love has flourished between them. Their love has matured through life’s ebb and flow, through achievements and disappointments. The movie’s silent prelude leads us through the spark of their romance, the depth of their love, and the pain of losing the same. It is this arc that moves us emotionally and prepares us to suspend disbelief when, as an older man, the main character launches into his greatest journey, all borne from the depth of his commitment. (And notice from Shakespeare that irrational sacrifice is the outcome of the spark’s immaturity, while in Up we see that love puts correct emphasis on enthralled living.)

The spark certainly has its role. It convinces you to lower your defenses, take a risk, and then take responsibility for a real relationship. It’s an invitation into something greater. The spark is an emotional promise, “There is something greater than what you feel right now, something worth the time, worth your heart.” The spark can’t take responsibility for what comes after and how the relationship unfolds, but it is truthful in its promise to open the doorway to love.

The spark says, “Carpe diem,” this is the only moment that matters, the most important moment of your life. But what comes after convinces you that every moment since has mattered, has made your life what it is. This is much more than the spark could ever have given; this is love.

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I'm starting to really believe that I can do this without you.